Tooth whitening and other at-home and in-office oral care procedures have become popular in today's culture. In the office tooth bleaching generally involves several visits to the dentist and the use of a rubber dam to protect the patient's gums from the bleaching agents. Out of the office tooth bleaching generally involves the use of a device or tray which is made in the dental office to fit the patient's teeth. The device is reused, and therefore, must be sufficiently sturdy to endure repeat handling, cleaning, filling, installation, and wearing. Typically, a patient uses the device in time periods when social contact can be avoided.
Non-professional programs are also available to persons interested in whitening their teeth using commercial products available in stores. The commercial products often provide a kit which includes a generic appliance and a container of bleaching gel. The obvious appeal is the lower cost of the program. A major disadvantage of this generic “one size fits all” appliance is the greater void space between the interior walls of the appliance and the teeth versus a professionally fitted appliance. Hence, in order to insure intimate contact of the bleaching gel and the teeth surfaces, more bleaching gel is required. Furthermore, the poorer fit means a greater loss of bleaching gel onto the gums, into the oral cavity, and eventual ingestion. Since generic appliances are not fitted to the individual user, they are even more bulky in the mouth than the fitted appliances and thus they restrict social discourse during use.
A recognized consumer need is a low cost commercial oral care delivery system that is comfortable to wear that can deliver a sufficient amount of an oral care substance. In addition, a delivery system is needed which does not require extensive user placement manipulation to be certain of good contact for optimal delivery. Furthermore, what is needed is a non-bulky active containment means that will permit the wearer to use the system during social discourse without interfering with the wearer's speech or appearance. Also needed is a containment means that will protect oral care substance from erosion from contact with other oral surfaces and, or saliva.
To address the need, at least with regard to out of the office tooth whitening, whitening strips were developed. Exemplary strip delivery systems and methods of using the strips are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,551,579 B2 and 7,122,199 B2, both to Sagel et al. and assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. However, there is still a need for improvement as the known strips do not easily provide for customization for different sized users. As such, also needed is a delivery system that is customizable in length, i.e. stretchable, to allow a user to cover the desired number of teeth, without the negative side effects that a user would experience with an elastic material, such as, a pulling force or creeping. Further, there is a need to provide even better and more secure fit for strip-like delivery systems and/or to provide the user with feedback associated with the fit of the device while being worn.